


Nights like This

by mistyhollowdrummer



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: F/M, Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-29 09:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3891343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistyhollowdrummer/pseuds/mistyhollowdrummer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nights like this were not uncommon. On a cold winter night, snow falling lightly outside, it was not uncommon for them to huddle together for warmth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nights like This

**Author's Note:**

> (Deciding to put this on AO3 as well.   
> Here I am with my first Tokyo Ghoul fanfiction! As said, it's my first for Tokyo Ghoul, so my understanding of all of the characters is not to point yet (I usually wait until I have a full understanding of the anime or most of the manga before I write fanfiction), and it's still all fresh in my head. I'm reading the manga now to figure out this whole story exactly though! Like, the anime skipped so much! Like, did you know *Spoilers inserted here* happened? And did you know that there's four different types of Kagune? I didn't know that! I didn't know it depicted abilities or stamina and stuffles like that.
> 
> Once again. Anime. Why you no follow the manga?
> 
> -Misty

**Nights like This**

* * *

Nights like this were not uncommon. On a cold winter night, snow falling lightly outside and leaving a thin blanket along the world, it was not uncommon for them to huddle together for warmth.

Bodies pressed closed. Skin against skin. Warm breath mixing together. It was warm under the covers, but warmer with each other.

This night was different, however.

It had been a few good months since Touka had last seen Kaneki Ken, a man she assumed she would call her friend. She wasn't sure what she could call him now, after being gone for months, after he left her alone that cold night. It had been such a long time, long enough for his image to begin to blur within her mind.

She wasn't sure what was different. She saw his missing posters every day around the town, and even at Hide's college the last time she had visited. However, this wasn't the same person she once remembered. It wasn't the white hair that made the difference, though it made his complexion look inevitably pale and sickening.

His hair was longer now, but only by an inch or two. His jaw line had become more defined, but from what she wasn't sure. It wasn't from age; it had only been a few months. She was afraid to think that he wasn't eating, but who would in his position? It could have come from the hardening of his pain and suffering, but she didn't want to think about that either.

His eyes looked tired, or rather, they looked dead. He looked like he hadn't had a decent night of sleep in... Well, months. The bags under his eyes were proof enough, but even the darkness surrounding them only added to the effect. It looked wrong against his skin, which was far paler than it used to be. While Kaneki had never been considered "tan," he was never very pale. He could have easily passed as someone who had been in a hospital for a good amount of his life.

He was thinner. This just added to the evidence that he may not have been eating. However, despite how much weight he lost, he gained it in places Touka had previously complained of. He'd gained a fair amount of muscle; even if she couldn't see it under his shirt, she could see it in his arms. His shoulders were more jaunting and his arms were more profound. His short sleeve shirt didn't cover his forearms, and that was enough to give her an idea of how he had done. He looked like he could carry his own weight now more so than before, and he looked more threatening than he ever once had.

He wasn't even wearing his mask.

This was definitely not the same Kaneki she remembered. When he spoke though, her body and mind were reminded of who he was, and what he meant to her.

"Touka chan..." His voice was sick, tired, but so honest and earnest that it overrode her worries. His tone lacked empathy; it lacked everything, but it was still  _his_   _voice._  It still held everything she knew of him, and all he had spoken was her name. He hadn't recited a poem or read one of his favorite books out loud. All he did was say her name, and it was like nothing had changed.

Oh how she wished that were the truth.

"You..." She whispered on a shaky and cold breath. The air entering her body was far warmer than what was leaving her, the hair on her arms and the back of her neck was standing up straight, and the subtle shiver she knew she had were becoming more noticeable. Just a flick of grey eyes towards her shoulder proved it. "Kaneki..."

She hadn't said his name in so long. It brought back memories hidden away, memories she thought were forever lost, but managed to resurface. All because of his name.

At the sound of his name, thin lips twitched up just slightly, a contradicting smirk or a tired smile. His eyes softened with a soft tilt to the head, and Touka's knees shook.

"You haven't changed." He said, and despite his apathy, it sounded tender and kind.

"Huh...?" Touka sounded with offense. Another twitch in Kaneki's lips; it was obviously a smile.

"You haven't changed." He said again.

"What the hell does that mean?" Touka asked, her arms burning with the habit to cross over her chest, but she needed them free and ready. As a response, Kaneki's shoulders shrugged.

"I don't know."

"What...?" This was truly confusing to her.

"It's been a while... I guess I thought things would be dramatically different," He explained. "But I was wrong."

"It has been a while... So what are you doing here?" Touka felt herself growing weary. Did she need to prepare herself for a fight? She definitely wanted to.

While she had told him not to come back, she wanted him back. She wanted normalcy, and if she had to break both of his legs and rip off his kagune to do it, she would.

"What I do every time I come here... I check up on you guys." Kaneki admitted. Touka's dark eyes widened and goosebumps rose on her cold skin.

"You... Check up on us?" She breathed. No longer could she hold her stagnant position, her arms reaching up to cross over her chest. It gave her a sense of protection, of safety, but what good it would do her later on she wasn't sure.

"Yes," He responded and shifted his weight on his legs. Touka was waiting for some indication of a lie; even having him rub his own chin would have sufficed, but it wasn't coming. "Every now and again... I come just to see how you are doing."

"You've been watching me..."

"Checking on you, a-and Hinami... On boss and Nishiki..." She hadn't expected the stutter, but she realized then that the conversation had been drifting towards her. "You're just the first to catch me... Unlike Hinami."

"Hinami saw you?"

"She was half asleep when she did... Singing to her helps lull her to sleep..." He explained, as if Touka or anyone else hadn't already known that. "I guess I'm not as stealthy as I thought I was."

"Or maybe you wanted to get caught." Touka pointed out. There was a flash of something in Kaneki's dark eyes, something she truly couldn't read. She wasn't sure if it was agreement or the awareness that he had been caught, but it was something to work off of.

"Maybe..." He quietly agreed, his eyes drifting to the floor. "Only maybe."

"I caught you." She once again pointed out the obvious. Kaneki looked up at her, and this time, it was a true smile that spread his thin lips. It wasn't hidden.

"I can never win against you, Touka chan..." He said quietly. She frowned; since when has this become a competition?

"So what do I get?" She asked.

"Hm...?"

"I won. You lost. What do I get for winning?" She clarified. She tried maintaining her annoyed facade, but it just wasn't working out.

The longer they spoke, the longer she stood there and stared at him, the more she was overcome with the urge to beat his face in, hug him, and then... And then what? She didn't know what after that.

"You get to live...?" Kaneki tried, but seeing his hand reach up to touch his chin was overwhelming. So much so that she couldn't resist grabbing at a pillow from behind her sitting perfectly on her bed and chucking it at the white haired ghoul in front of her. Kaneki caught it with ease; she hadn't meant for it to be a hard toss to catch, but he still seemed rather surprised by the action regardless.

"Dummy," She insulted him, but it didn't sound half as annoyed as she wanted it to sound. When Kaneki chuckled and fluffed at her pillow, she felt her resistance slipping. It was enough to have her chucking another pillow, a smaller one, but it was blocked by the first. "Knock it off." She growled.

"You started it." He insisted.

"I started nothing." She corrected him, but the condescending smirk was pissing her off.

"Are you  _trying_  to start something?" He asked. Touka could feel that little thread of self-control unraveling very quickly as she reached behind her to grab at her last pillow.

"Maybe I am." She said and held it up. "What of it?"

"Honestly, Touka chan..." Kaneki sighed. For a moment, she assumed she'd picked up on the wrong idea, but it wasn't until he was reaching behind himself and pulling out his mask that she realized she was wrong. "I won't go easy on you." He told her and slipped on his specially made mask.

Touka scoffed, her own lips turning up into a content smirk. She looked behind him, off to the side where her rabbit mask was, and began the mental preparations it took to get to it.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." She said and aimed her pillow at him. "Let's see how far that training has gotten you."

With that being said, Kaneki lurched forward, pillow armed, ready, and dangerous. He moved to hit her, but Touka was quick to avoid it with a quick jump to the left.

Kaneki's training had done something though. He never used to be as quick on his feet as he once was. His reflexes had never been better than they were now.

Just as she moved to avoid him, the the pillow in one hand was quickly in the other and aiming at her again. She had to think faster and act quicker if she didn't want to be hit, even if it only was just a pillow. It had feathers in it, though, and she wasn't too keen on getting whacked by it.

It wasn't even the idea of getting hit by a pillow that bothered her. It was the idea of getting hit by a pillow  _Kaneki_  was holding that bothered her. This was no longer about winning; this was about pride.

Well, at least it was for her.

"Come on, dummy!" She chided and jumped back on her bed. Kaneki made a sound from under his mask, but, because it was muffled, she wasn't sure what it was. It could have been a scoff, but it also sounded like a morphed version of a laugh.

He wasn't laughing at her, was it? For his sake, he better not be. That was all she could think.

Again, another hit was thrown. Touka had enough time to jump off of her bed and land beside him, but she felt the brush of cotton fabric along her shin just before she landed. If Kaneki were any other type of person, he'd probably gloat and say that was a hit, but he wasn't. He wouldn't even gloat if he did hit her.

He just wasn't that type of person or ghoul.

She made a running dash, and before he could aim, she grabbed at her rabbit mask and slipped it on. It was an easy process, leaving the pink hair behind in favor of the fight.

Now with it on, she made a full forward attack. No holding back. She got a good hit to his gut, but it did nothing. Of course it wouldn't. Even if the pillow was stuffed to the brim and firm, it wasn't going to hurt him.

However, he grunted at the contact. Whether he was making fun of her or not was the question, but if he was, she'd teach him a lesson. Another toss, one hit to his arm and another to his hip. She managed two more hits to his pillow (used as a shield) before he aimed and hit her over the head.

Oh, that just pissed her off.

It only took a split second for the shock that he got a hit to her to wear off. Once done, she lunged forward and pushed into him with her pillow. He used his as a shield again, but when the back of her chair whacked into his ankle, he went tumbling down with her on top. That tumble to the floor was too loud; it'd surely wake someone up, but this was war. It needed to be done.

She bracketed his hips with her knees, her weight holding him down, and used her pillow to smother his face. His pillow was abandoned in favor of pulling at the fabric of her weapon and her arms for freedom, but she wasn't relenting. She kept that pillow there, and she kept that pillow there until she felt he had learned his lesson. If his body suddenly stilling, hands falling to either side of his covered head and legs ceasing from their incessant flailing was his way of learning his lesson, than she considered it satisfactory.

Touka gingerly pulled the pillow away. She looked underneath it, finding a comatose Kaneki Ken laying beneath it. The eye not covered by his mask was closed, hidden by the soft tuff of white hair that was his bangs. She couldn't see past his mask; however, she could hear the small, tender breaths leaving him from within the leather and feel the rise and fall of his chest.

He wasn't dead, and it was only confirmed when his eye opened, red and hungry for human flesh.

"Did you fall for it?" His voice was muffled, but the same voice she knew all too well.

"No," Touka disagreed and covered his head back up with the pillow. She expected the lazy fight from him; what she didn't expect was the sudden, human, and healthy laugh that left his body in a heavy heave from his chest and lungs. She could even feel it against her thighs as it happened. It was such a shocking thing to hear and feel that she pulled the pillow back immediately, along with her mask, to look at the teen, gazing upon his pale skin.

Even from under the mask, she could see his cheeks crinkle up in a smile.

"Touka chan...?" He asked, his smile fading.

No, it  _needed_  to stay. It made Touka's heart pound painfully, not understanding the nature of it, but all she knew was that she couldn't lose the smile.

Pillow forgotten, Touka reached forward and pulled at the zipper of his mask. It came undone easily, and contrary to the design of his mask, the mouth that laid underneath was perfectly normal. White, straight teeth. Thin, pale lips. Soft, untainted skin.

Normal. Perfectly, humanly normal.

"Touka..." He mumbled, voice clear. It had been a long time since Touka had last heard him speak her name without a suffix to it. In fact, she couldn't remember a time he hadn't added "chan" to her name. It was endearing when she heard it like this; sweet and innocent and everything she missed about this idiot.

She missed him.

Her previous mission had been forgotten. The smile was ignored, all to move forward and chase after those lips.

She had never done this. Human interaction (this included ghouls) was minimal to her. Her life had been spent surviving, not caring for others. So this was something new to her, awkward at best, intimidating at worst, and mortifying at any other time.

Despite the voices in her head telling her to stop, screaming at her that this wasn't a good idea, her resolution didn't waver. She wanted this. No, wanted was an understatement. She  _needed_ this. All she wanted was just one touch.

One touch she got.

Kaneki's lips were warm, but it was undecided if it was from the mask or his natural body heat. The cold metal of the zipper and smooth leather fabric was in the way, but she could work with this.

There was some hesitancy; herself included, but soon there was pressure on her lips. He was kissing her back. Along with it, there was a touch of soft fingertips on her waist. His hands were gentle, but there was a tender firmness to his grip that was comforting and reassuring all at once. The grip wasn't at all painful, but it was enough to pull a small sound from her lips, though her mind was so muddled with thoughts of the white haired teen under her, she couldn't tell what the sound actually was.

The hands on her waist moved lower to her hips, but didn't breech an uncomfortable field. He wasn't going to push it, but the feeling of his skin brushing against hers (her shirt had untucked itself from her shorts in the struggle) got goose bumps to rise on her cold flesh. At this point, she wasn't entirely sure if she'd complain if he did it again, but as quickly as they had fallen there, they were against her shoulders and pushing her away.

"Wait, Touka chan..." He said in a slightly breathless manner. His fingers, along with everything else on him, was shaking, but his eye, no longer black and red, was staring up at her with earnest intimidation.

Had she made the wrong call? Had she pushed it all too far? She hadn't meant to do that, but thinking over it, she had taken it further than she meant to. The ghoul didn't know what came over herself; something about him just made her lose control (Like it normally would), and she lost all motor control the moment she stared into those eyes.

She  _had_  taken it too far, hadn't she? This was a guy who left them anyway, a guy who abandoned them in favor of being on his own. He left them behind, and she told him never to come back. So why did he? Why did he come back, and why was he even still here now?

"Right... Sorry..." She apologized and slowly sat up. Her hands left his chest to push herself up, but there a moment of stricken panic that crossed his minimal features.

"No...!" He hastily made out and grabbed at her wrists. Touka stopped short of standing, looking down at the ghoul with a mixture of sadness and annoyance.

What more did he want from her? She had already embarrassed herself in every way possible. She had already shown a vulnerable side to herself that no one else had seen, and he was telling her to wait?

Before the girl could question him, though the urge to punch him was stronger, Kaneki released his grip from her. He reached up to his neck and pulled, the zipper of his mask pulling apart and letting the leather fall loose. He pulled, the mask following and slipping off with ease.

There was that face.  _This_  was Kaneki Ken. This was the teen she knew and missed.

Those big, black eyes, so truthful and kind. That flawless skin, even after the damage that had been dealt to him. That soft, relieved smile that pulled his cheeks up and wrinkled his nose in the cutest of ways...

"There," Kaneki said as the mask was laid beside his head and his hands fell to rest, unmoving. "Now there's nothing in the way, right?"

She couldn't have agreed more. Honestly, she couldn't remember a time she felt a smile split her cheeks in such a painful manner, but it was worth it.

It was so, so worth it.

Her hands trembled as she reached up to cup his cheeks. Despite the red flush along his cheek bones, his skin was slightly colder than his lips, but she made a mental promise to fix that right away. Hands clasped over hers, and she could feel Kaneki's smile widening under her grasp. In this position, she didn't know what to do with herself besides lean forward and kiss him.

It was more rushed than the previous one. It was possible that, now that the mask was removed, there was truly nothing getting in the way. Knowing that was exhilarating, and knowing that she may not see him again for another month or so made movements more frantic. She needed this to last for as long as possible, and she needed to savor this moment.

It could end just as quickly as it started.

Hands fell to her hips again, but the fingers that touched her skin were there with a purpose. This was no accident, and when they began moving up and over the small over her back, it just proved it. They roamed freely as they kissed, sometimes putting pressure against her, sometimes gliding across soft skin just for the sake of feeling and knowing it, of mapping out every little detail. There were some wounds that had never healed properly, and those wounds left scars. Deft fingers traced over those scars like he was glorifying them, and while she didn't understand it, she wasn't against it.

Meanwhile, their kisses grew frantic and heavier. Lips parted on nearly silent gasps for intake of air and to allow space. It added a heat between them, a heat that allowed tongues to brush together and to have both of them nearly pulling away, surprised at their own actions.

As far as either of them knew, the other hadn't had much experience. For Kaneki, this was painfully true. He'd only ever had his family and Hide in his life, and though his books provided comfort and security, they didn't provide companionship. Rize had really been his first date, despite the horrific outcome that had occurred from it. So this was a large step entirely for him.

Touka, though while having some similarities in loneliness, hadn't had much of his backstory. She'd only ever had her brother after her parents were gone, after her father was killed and they were abandoned. While Touka and Ayato had been taken in and looked after, no one ever could get past her tough exterior. Not until this guy, however.

He broke down every built up and fortified wall, burned through every netting and got into parts of her she sworn be protected. He made her  _weak_ , and she hated weak. The idea of this was scary all on its own, but she couldn't find it in herself to care.

No, she really didn't care. She'd be weak for him if need be, because this was Kaneki. He wasn't like other people, humans or ghouls. He didn't want to hurt her, and just that thought alone was enough to have her keep her place, to have her keep kissing him. She wasn't giving up this easily, not now and not ever. So long as it involved this white haired ghoul, she'd be weak and keep on fighting until her last breath.

She wasn't letting him go anytime soon.

"Kane... Ki..." She whispered against damp lips. A hand of the ghoul's left her back, but only to touch her neck. It was a slightly odd gesture in this position, but the grip was still reassuring in its way. The pressure of it increased, and with a slight intake of breath, she realized he was sitting up from under her.

He had no plans to stop kissing her though. Oh no. He was nowhere near that idea. It hadn't even crossed his mind. He just wasn't very comfortable laying on the floor like this, and he needed some relief. Touka seemed to catch on to the idea as well and slowly sat up, his lips staying within her reach.

Like this, her legs could wrap around his hips and hold tight as he stood with her in his arms. She held on with her arms around his shoulders, and with his hands holding onto her by her thighs, she felt like the safest person in the world right now. No one could touch her, and if they tried, heaven have mercy on them, because Kaneki would take them down quicker than the snowflakes falling outside.

Touka felt the soft fabric of her bed reach her legs first. There was really no reason to keep her legs around him any longer, but it felt comforting in an odd way that she couldn't explain. That, and she could guide him forward as she fell back onto her pillows. Kaneki did follow, but the kiss was abruptly cut off for some much needed air. The two panted quietly to themselves, but eyes never wavered from one another. Seeing those big, dark eyes of Touka's so wide, and with her pupils so dilated that it was hard to see her original eye color, Kaneki couldn't help thinking that she had never looked so beautiful before.

Sure, he always thought she was cute, but this was her  _raw_. This was her without a facade to protect her, with her bangs splayed and both eyes showing, with her lips red and swollen from kissing, and with her cheeks a dark shade to show the rush of blood to her cheeks. He assumed he looked something similar, but that was just not a top priority right now.

"Touka chan..." Never before had her name made him tremble with want. It wasn't even just a want for sexual gratification, though that seemed to be where this was going. He just wanted her. He wanted her smile, her voice, her scent, and her eyes on him and only him. He'd never felt so possessive and jealous for something all at once that wasn't even a tangible thing at the moment. It may never be, and yet he still wanted her.

He sat back on his heels, eyes staying on hers as he reached for the hem of his shirt. He pulled up, and while his vest did get in the way, that didn't stop him from tugging the article of clothing over his head. It was tossed away to the ground, and when he could move his bangs from his face, he could see the blush in Touka's cheeks darken from ear to ear. She was without a doubt checking him out. The last time she had seen him without a shirt on was in the early days of him being a ghoul for the first week. She had lifted his shirt up and said some pretty rude things to him about his body, but oh, there was nothing to complain about now.

This was no longer a "child's" body. This was no longer the weak, annoying boy she remembered, and the definition in his muscles were all the proof that was needed. Despite the many numbers of injuries he had accumulated through the time he spent with her, and probably some from the time he was gone, his skin was flawless over those hardened muscles. The only scar to be seen was the one over his kidneys, the one left behind from Rize's first attack. It never did heal correctly, and Touka wanted to burn the image as well as the scar away. How dare this thing mark this beautiful body? How dare it be there to mock him and all of his worth?

Then again, that scar is what made him.

The girl reached up with dainty fingers and touched the scar. His skin was warmer to the touch now, but the indent under her fingers wouldn't go away, no matter how much she wished it to. It was a long, thick scar sitting just above his hip bone that could even boarder a keloid if she thought about it, and she hated it.

Kaneki must have sensed her annoyance with the scar, or she must have been making an ugly face at it, because soon enough, he gathered her hand within his own. One hand held her wrist while the other gently splayed her fingers open as he brought it to his face. He brought it close, and with the single mindedness of someone about to drown, he kissed each digit lightly. He kissed each pad of her fingers, starting from her pinky to her thumb. He then kissed lower to her palm, taking his time to savor what he had.

Even he knew this wouldn't last.

"Kaneki..." Touka whispered. Her hand moved on its own accord to hold his cheek, and there was a part of her that was still surprised when he moved into that hand. Her hand was warm though, a welcoming touch to anything else, and that was all he was searching for.

She allowed it too, because it meant more than just a touch to her. Somehow, though she couldn't explain it, it meant acceptance. It meant that he knew, that he understood, and that was all she could ask of him. That, and...

"Stay..." She whispered. Black eyes darkened by the night stared at her, confused and elated all at once.

"I thought you said-"

"I know what I said, but I... I-I was wrong..." She admitted painfully, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. "I was wrong. I was  _so_ wrong. We want you to come back.  _I_  want you to come back..."

Kaneki leaned forward, his hands falling to rest on either side of her head, but her hand didn't move.

"Touka chan..."

"Come back... I don't want to be alone anymore...  _Please_..." She begged him, and the tears finally fell over. She hated that she was crying, because what had this guy done to her? She didn't cry, not for him or for anyone else, but he just got under her skin in the most annoying of ways.

She wanted it though. She'd do anything to get it back.

"You aren't alone..." He whispered back, his fingers lifting to cut a path in those tears.

"Then prove it..." She pleaded with him and held his hand in place. Her nails scratched lightly at the back of his hand for good measure, but he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Just from the small smile on his face was enough to say it without a word being spoke.

Like most things between them, words weren't needed. They'd built up enough trust between the two of them in that short amount of time they spent together to look at each other and know what it was being thought without actually having to say anything, and that was enough for them.

"Touka chan..." He whispered softly and leaned forward. Touka breathed a sigh of relief against his lips as they met, but it was a quick relief.

A flash of lightening illuminated the sky and lit up her room. A clap of thunder shook the ground so hard she felt the after effect rumbles of it vibrate within her chest. It was enough to have her bolting upright in utter horror at the suddenness of it. With wide eyes and a cold sheen of sweat of along her fringe, she looked outside her open window to see pouring rain hitting the windowsill.

It didn't make sense. Hadn't it been snowing quite heavily only a few seconds ago? How could it have possibly changed?

Touka turned her head to question the white haired ghoul she had been staring at, but to her horror, he wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere to be seen, not a trace left behind. There was no evidence indicating that he had ever been there, unless the open window was one of them.

She was alone. She was sitting here in her bed, alone and confused beyond her wildest understanding. It didn't take long for things to begin to settle though, for the fog in her head to clear and for realization to slowly dawn on her.

It was just a dream.

She hadn't seen Kaneki since winter, and that left her alone. A dream like this was enough to have tears pooling at the corners of her eyes and spilling down her cheeks relentlessly. It made it hard to breathe without gasping heavily or wheezing into the palm of her hand. It made her lungs ache and her body quiver in small spasms.

She was trying hard. She was trying so hard to keep herself together, but it just wasn't working. She was in a cold sweat, her body trembling. Her window had been left open in favor of the warm spring night, but the rain outside was making the temperatures drop drastically. The thunder that shook the earth and the lightening that lit up the sky were dilatory distractions for the time being, only prolonging the realization of the cold spot beside her in the bed.

She was alone. She always was. These dreams, these  _nightmares_  that plagued her on countless occasions were increasing, and each night, she felt more alone than the first.

_This_  was why nights like this were not uncommon.


End file.
